
Class. 

Book... . 11 3 

Copyright N?_. 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL 
ATTRACTION 

A CONCEPTION OF UNITY 




BY 

/ 

EUGENE DEL MAR 



• « «* • * • • w . j * v » « a * 



DENVER, COLORADO 

THE SMITH-BROOKS PRINTING CO. 

1901 






TVF I RRARY OF 

4 Off £88, 
Tw« Cuh£I hEceiveo 

NOV, 10 190! 

f^HT ENTRY 

CLASS PL, xXa NO. 
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cot 



COPYRIGHT 1901 

BY 

EUGENE DEL MAR 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
PREFACE 5 

CHAPTEK I. 
THE PRINCIPLE OF ATTRACTION .— 19 

THE MARVELS OF SCIENCE-THE PRINCIPLE 
OF ATTRACTION-THE "PRINCIPLE OF REPUL- 
SION"- SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS -INHER- 
ENT REPULSION-MAGNETIC REPULSION - 
THE MAGNET - MAGNETIZATION - THE "MAG- 
NETIC CURRENT''- REVOLVING SPIRALS- 
POLAR EXCRESCENCES-ANALOGIES-THE 
FIELD OF FORCE-MOLECULAR ATTRACTION- 
WHAT REPELS?-THE CHARACTERISTIC OF RE- 
PULSION-APPEARANCE OF REPULSION - RE- 
PULSION OR ATTRACTIONS-DOES A FIRE RE- 
PELS-ACTION AND REACTION-NEGATIVES AND 
NONENTITIES-LIFE AND DEATH-PARADOXES 
-OPPOSITE S AND CONTRASTS-INNUMERABLE 
CONTRASTS -CONCEPTIONS OF OPPOSITES- 
UNITY AND DUALITY-CONSEQUENCES OF MEN- 
TAL CONCEPTIONS. 

CHAPTEK II. 

THE PURPOSE OF ATTRACTION - 40 

DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE - ATTRACTION AND 
EVOLUTION - THE PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE- 
GROWTH-EVOLUTION -HARMONY WITH ENVI- 



Page 
RONMENT-HAPPINESS-THE STRUGGLE FOR 
LIFE-SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST-THE EVOLU 
TION OF ENVIRONMENT -ATTRACTION AND 
GROWTH-THE LAW OF LOVE-THE SPIRITUAL 
AND MATERIAL -SOUL DEVELOPMENT -THE 
ONE PRINCIPLE-THE ESSENTIALS OF GROWTH 
-EXPRESSION NOT SPONTANEOUS-RECEIVING 
AND GIVING -POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES - 
GROWTH IS INEVITABLE -THE SIGNIFICANCE 
OF ATTRACTION -PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL 
CORRESPONDENCE -UNITY OF PRINCIPLE- 
THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY-MENTAL EX- 
CHANGE -THE HUMAN MAGNET -THE BASIS 
OF ATTRACTION -THE BENEFICENCE OF AT- 
TRACTION-EXPERIENCES AND DIFFICULTIES- 
FRIENDSHIPS-THE MUTUALITY OF HAR- 
MONY-ETERNAL FRIENDSHIPS -TEMPORARY 
FRIENDSHIPS-LOVE-THE MUTUALITY 
OF ATTRACTION - KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL 
LAWS-A LAW OF MUTUAL BENEFIT-MUTUAL 
USE AND MUTUAL N E C E S S I T Y-IMMUTABLE 
PRINCIPLE S-THE BENEFICENCE OF NATURE- 
THE HIGHER HARMONIES-THE LINE OF LEAST 
RESISTANCE. 

REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES 76 



PREFACE. 

The time seems peculiarly opportune for a pre- 
sentation of the philosophy known as the New 
Thought along such lines as will appeal not only to 
the religious or philosophical mind, but equally to 
the scientific and commercial. The widespread in- 
terest that has been awakened along this line of 
thought seems to demand such an explanation of 
its underlying principles as will carry a conviction 
of its necessary connection with and relation to 
every condition of human life. 

It has yet to be generally understood that the 
truth of the conceptions of the New Thought may 
readily be tested and demonstrated by material 
methods. Nor has it come to be recognized that 
this philosophy is founded upon such principles and 
facts of Physical Science as are now universally ac- 
cepted as expressions of the highest known truths. 

The fundamental basis of this philosophy is the 
conception of Unity, and this owes its newly ac- 
quired vitality to the wonderful scientific progress 
of the present age. The keynote to our knowledge 
is seen to be the Continuity 1 which pervades the 
Universe, a conception of which serves to unite, 
combine and simplify all life and thought. In 
every department of science Evolution is now recog- 
nized as the only scientific explanation of change 
and growth. 



6 Preface. 

It is this principle of Unity that will alone 
give any satisfactory explanation of the phenomena 
of the material world; and, in our necessary con- 
ception of the universality of all natural principles, 
we are obliged to assume the identity of principle 
underlying both what we call the Material or Phy- 
sical and the Mental or Spiritual. These domains 
are not governed by analogous principles, but by 
the same One Principle, and it follows that our 
knowledge of the one domain may be translated 
into terms of the other. 2 

The discovery of spiritual truths has usually 
been attempted along distinctively spiritual lines, 
and our knowledge of the "immaterial" has been de- 
rived almost exclusively from introspective and in- 
tuitional sources. There is another and comple- 
mentary line of investigation, however, and sub- 
jective and objective thought are as closely corre- 
lated and mutually essential as are the deductive 
and inductive methods of logic. 3 

It is believed that, through the recognition of 
identity of principle, we may arrive at mental or 
spiritual conceptions from a consideration of ma- 
terial or physical truths. We may come to an un- 
derstanding of what must ever remain physically 
unknown to us, through a comprehension of what 
appeals distinctively to the physical. And, as each 
presents but a different aspect of the One Principle, 
we may build a clear conception of the Spiritual on 
a foundation of Physical Truths. 4 



Preface. 7 

The Man of Science is essentially the Man of 
Religion; and, as Huxley says, science is but trained 
and organized common sense. It has already trans- 
formed the world, and there is a sense of solidity 
about a Law of Nature that belongs to nothing else. 
Each single Law is an instrument* of scientific re- 
search, simple in its adjustments, universal in its 
application and infallible in its results. Science 
simplifies, while it infinitely ennobles and purifies, 
our conception of God. 5 

Nature is the true revelation or source of real 
knowledge. As Forces of Nature are but different 
forms of the One Omnipresent Divine Energy, Nat- 
ural Law will enable us to read that great duplicate 
which we call the "Unseen Universe," and to think 
and live in fuller harmony with it. And, as Dresser 
well says: "That man who, starting with Nature 
as a great living fact, develops his philosophy di- 
rect from that, and steers clear of all theological 
basis, will do the world a great service." 6 

The introduction of Law among the scattered 
phenomena of Nature has made science, and trans- 
formed knowledge into eternal truth. The religion 
of the future, says Flammarion, after it has re- 
ceived the same crystallizing touch, will be scien- 
tific, and founded on a knowledge of psychical facts; 
and it will have one great advantage over all that 
have gone before it — Unity. 7 

We may only reach the unknown, with any de- 
gree of certainty, through an understanding of the 
known. Not only is our knowledge of higher laws 



8 Preface. 

necessarily limited by our understanding of the 
lower; but we only know things by their effect, we 
can only express spiritual laws in language bor- 
rowed from the visible universe, and every attitude 
of mind has advanced along material as well as 
immaterial stepping-stones. 8 

Science is only in part a thing of the senses, 
for the roots of phenomena are embedded in a 
region beyond the reach of the senses. And scien- 
tific education should enable us to sense the invis- 
ible as well as the visible in Nature. Without imag- 
ination, says Tyndall, we can not take a step beyond 
the bourne of the mere animal world, perhaps not 
even to the edge of it. 9 

In the present work, some of the identities of 
Spiritual and Material principles will be deduced 
from a consideration of the Principle of Attraction. 
Only such fundamental and primary facts and prin- 
ciples of Physical Science will be adduced, and 
authorities cited, as are deemed essential to the pur- 
pose at hand, but it is hoped that sufficient interest 
may be aroused to induce further investigation by 
the reader. 

The discoveries and generalizations of modern 
science, as Tyndall well says, constitute a poem 
more sublime than has ever yet addressed the hu- 
man imagination. The new conceptions of science 
may, indeed, seem quite startling to many of us; 
but history warns us that it is the customary fate 
of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as 
superstitions. 10 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE PRINCIPLE OF ATTRACTION. 

THE MARVELS OF SCIENCE. 

The study of science from the Conception of 
Unity is vitally interesting and fascinating. At 
every turn it brings to light curious and instructive 
analogies and identities, and uncovers miracles of 
combined simplicity and profundity. It inculcates 
conceptions of intense beauty and grandeur. 
Science should be the possession of the many. It 
offers us greater marvels than the miracles of the- 
ology, for the miracles of to-day become the science 
of to-morrow. 11 

As Leonide Keating well says: "No matter 
how long a soul may exist, no matter how much 
it may advance, no matter how much it may require 
to satisfy its ambition for knowledge, and no mat- 
ter what its power of transition may be, even if it 
were a billion miles a second, the Universe is large 
enough for its movements, grand enough for its 
instruction, admiration and study, and intricate 
enough in its unfoldment, to satisfy even an in- 
finite soul." 12 



10 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



THE PRINCIPLE OF ATTRACTION. 

The Principle of Attraction lies at the root of 
all laws of nature. Each atom of the Universe has 
an inherent attraction for every other atom, and 
all things are forever in motion; while their rela- 
tions to one another, at all times, are the result of 
this universal principle. 13 

"Universal attraction is a force by virtue of 
which the material particles of all bodies tend in- 
cessantly to approach each other;, it is a mutual 
action, however, which all bodies, at rest or in 
motion, exert upon one another, no matter how 
great or how small the space between them may be, 
or whether this space be occupied or unoccupied 
by other matter." Consult any book of science of 
the present day, and it will be found to assert the 
universal attraction of all material bodies. 14 

The attraction between any two bodies is the 
resultant of the attraction of each molecule of the 
one upon every molecule of the other. And as each 
body tends to approach every other body, any two 
bodies must approach each other unless prevented 
from doing so by some external means. Masses of 
matter on the surfaces of the earth have an attrac- 
tion for or gravitate toward each other: but the at- 
traction of the earth is at the same time so much 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 11 

greater, that their attraction for each other is quite 
insensible. 15 

A molecule within the mass wishes to unite 
with another to its right, but it wishes equally to 
unite with another to its left; the one tendency neu- 
tralizes the other and it unites with neither. And 
the pull of the earth upon the mass is as nothing 
compared with the mutual pull of its own atoms. 16 

It is through a marvelous infinity of vibrations 
that each thing attracts, and is attracted by, every 
other thing. These vibrations are so universally 
attuned that, in their wondrous diversity, they con- 
stitute a Unity. A Universe governed by a Princi- 
ple of Repulsion is inconceivable, for such a prin- 
ciple — could it be imagined — would serve to bring 
together things that had no affinity for one another. 
It is quite as important that some things be kept 
apart as that others be brought together, and both 
of these functions are equally subserved through 
universal attraction. 

If it be a universal principle that each atom 
in the Universe attracts every other atom, it would 
indeed seem impossible to conceive of any particu- 
lar atom or aggregation of atoms at the same time 
repelling any other. It has been claimed, however, 
that a Law of Repulsion is absolutely essential to 
any well-ordered Universe, and that without it all 



12 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



things would come together and be welded into 
one solid mass. 

THE "PRINCIPLE OF REPULSION." 

Who ever discovered a "Principle of Kepul- 
sion? v Where is it defined and expounded? No 
scientific work makes any definite presentation of 
such a principle, nor do the text books even refer 
to it. It is true that the word repulsion is often 
made use of; but principles, and not words, are 
what we are now considering. 

That the manifestation of action ordinarily 
termed repulsion exists, is beyond any doubt. The 
condition that is so designated is an accepted fact, 
while it is indisputable that similar poles of a mag- 
net "repel" one another. It is not the phenomenon, 
therefore, that is in any way questioned, but 
whether this is the result of an assumed Principle 
of Eepulsion. And what we are to determine is 
whether the Principle of Attraction satisfactorily 
accounts for all the phenomena of both attraction 
and repulsion. 

SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS. 

There are, indeed, many seeming contradictions 
to the conception of but One Principle. Our senses 
deceive us at every turn. We see the sun, moon 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 13 

and stars revolving round us; we feel that the earth 
is motionless ; we see the sun rise above the horizon. 
We touch what we think is a solid body; we hear 
harmonious sounds; we admire the effects of light 
and color; we speak of heat and cold. In fact, there 
is no solid and no sound, no light and no color, no 
heat and no cold; only motion. 17 

There are many aspects of attraction that are 
equally deceptive. But we know that two truths 
can not be at variance; and if it were certain that 
any one thing had the attribute of inherently re- 
pelling any other thing, we would be obliged to 
admit that a universal power of attraction is not a 
truth. 

INHERENT REPULSION? 

The one question to be considered is whether 
there is a Principle of Repulsion, by virtue of which 
any one atom or aggregation of atoms contains that 
quality or attribute which inherently repels or 
pushes away another. If each thing attracts every 
other thing, as the physical scientists hold, it is 
manifest that it does not repel any. And if there 
be no inherent Principle of Repulsion, it is equally 
evident that all forms of energy, force and power 
are merely different phases or characteristics of the 
power of attraction. 



14 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

MAGNETIC REPULSION. 

First and foremost among the seeming contra- 
dictions to the existence of but One Principle are 
the phenomena observable when the similar poles 
of two magnets are brought into proximity. A force 
is seen to be exerted between them, tending to sep- 
arate them, and this is ordinarily explained by say- 
ing that they "repel" each other. 18 

THE MAGNET. 

What happens, then, when iron is magnetized, 
and in what form is the magnetic power exerted? 
When a piece of iron is magnetized — by passing a 
current of electricity around it — nothing at all is 
added to, or taken from, the iron. The magnetic 
power is inherent in the iron. The molecules of 
iron — that is, the smallest particles of iron that can 
be mentally conceived, so small that one hundred 
thousand million million millions of them occupy 
but a cubic inch of space — possess an inherent mag- 
netic power, and naturally form themselves into 
molecular rings, which satisfy their mutual attrac- 
tions. 19 

Pass a current of electricity through the iron, 
and it will break up these molecular rings. It will 
turn the like poles of all the molecules in one direc- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 15 

tion. The electrical power exerted to unbend these 
molecular rings is stored up in the molecules of 
iron, just as is the power exerted to straighten out 
a spring. The molecules of iron are no longer per- 
mitted to be satisfied by their mutual attractions. 
They are forcibly held apart, and they send their 
currents of desire out to the molecules that simi- 
larly attract them, by the most direct route left 
open to them. 20 

MAGNETIZATION. 

When a body is magnetized, no change is made 
in its weight and nothing of a material nature is 
added to it. Magnetization consists in the rearrange- 
ment or ordered arrangement of matter already ex- 
isting in the body. When the magnetic substance is 
not magnetized the molecular currents occupy such 
positions that their total action on any external sub- 
stance is nil. As soon as more molecular atoms set 
in one certain direction than in another, the magnet 
shows polarity. This polarity increases as one direc- 
tion predominates, and it reaches a maximum when 
all the molecular magnets are completely parallel. 21 

THE "MAGNETIC CURRENT." 

Emanating from the poles of the magnet, and 
expressive of these molecular desires, are lines of 
force or strings of whirls or vortices in the ether. 



1G Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

When the north pole of a magnet is looked at, the 
direction of these whirls is opposite to that of the 
hands of a watch; and when the south pole is looked 
at, the direction is the same as that of the hands. 
Like all rotating things, these whirls are acted upon 
by forces tending to shorten them along the axis of 
rotation, and widen them at right angles to the 
axis. 22 

If two magnets are arranged in line so that dis- 
similar poles are in proximity, the whirls of both 
magnets revolve in the same direction, and will com- 
bine to form a single set of w T hirls; which becomes 
narrower and draws the magnets together. If simi- 
lar poles are in proximity, the whirls revolve in 
opposite directions and are unable to combine, and 
as the two sets of whirls become wider, the magnets 
draw apart. 23 

REVOLVING SPIRALS. 

The action of the whirls may be likened to that 
of two similar revolving spirals, which, if moving 
in the same direction and pushed together from 
opposite points will combine within the space occu- 
pied by but one of them; moving in opposite direc- 
tions, they will antagonize one another, and together 
will occupy twice as much space as either will sepa- 
rately. Under the former condition they come to- 
gether, and under the latter, they remain apart. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 17 

POLAR EXCRESCENCES. 

The strings of whirls or vortices in the ether 
which emanate from the poles of the magnet form, 
as it were, a constant excrescence or cushion to the 
magnet, and possess definite form and intensity. To 
push the two positive poles together until the mag- 
nets press against each other, is like pressing to- 
gether two rubber balls until the full circumference 
of each is in complete contact. And the drawing 
away of the two positive poles after they have been 
forced together is no more a repulsion than would 
be the drawing apart of the two rubber balls when, 
after being forcibly pressed together, the pressure 
is suddenly removed. 

ANALOGIES. 

If a hollow rubber ball be cut into hemispheres 
and the convex side of each be placed in contact, 
bringing together their full circumference by means 
of pressure would exemplify the meeting of the two 
similar poles of a magnet. Whereas placing the two 
hemispheres together so that they fitted in close con- 
tact, the convex side of the one being placed next 
to the concave side of the other, would exemplify 
bringing the dissimilar poles together. 



18 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

The magnet serves as a conduit for the electric 
energy, but this no more "repels" than would a 
stream of air or water from a pipe "repel" another 
stream from a pipe set opposite to it. The two 
streams might be directed toward each other too 
violently for them to at once coalesce, but their 
meeting and the consequent necessary transmuta- 
tion of energy does not at all indicate inherent re- 
pulsion or the existence of a principle of repulsion. 

If currents of air or water are sent in the same 
direction, say from south to north, through each of 
two pipes, and the north end of one pipe is placed 
next to the south end of the other; as the two cur- 
rents travel in the same direction, they will unite 
and flow through without antagonism. Here the 
dissimilar poles of the magnets, as it were, are 
brought together. 

It will be found difficult, however, to place the 
north end of one pipe next to the north end of the 
other. The two streams of air or water, being di- 
rected toward each other, necessitate the exertion 
of force in order to bring the pipes together, just as 
is required to bring the similar poles of magnets in 
contact with each other. But when two things are 
actively propelled toward each other, it is clear that 
the result of their meeting does not follow from any 
principle of repulsion. It is a consequence of pro- 
pulsion or the active operation of attraction. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 19 

THE FIELD OF FORCE. 

The masses of the iron of the magnet have no 
more to do with the manifestation of repulsion than 
have the pipes conveying the currents of air or 
water that are propelled against one another. The 
pipes do not repel one another; neither, in fact, do 
the magnets. It is the antiquated nomenclature 
alone that presents any special difficulty to a clear 
understanding of this subject, and the terms "elec- 
tric current/' and "attraction" and "repulsion" of 
magnetic poles should properly be avoided. 24 

All the processes with which we are concerned 
take place essentially in the surrounding space. It 
is the fields of force that repel one another, for the 
masses of the magnets have no part in the mutual 
action. It originates entirely in the lines of force 
emanating from or converging to the poles, and its 
essential basis is the state of stress in the surround- 
ing medium; being the pressure across the lines of 
force, and the tension along them. 25 

MOLECULAR ATTRACTION. 

The atoms of the iron so powerfully attract 
one another, that their desire to meet is mani- 
fested through a current of energy that continu- 
ously reaches out from one end of the magnet to 



20 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

the other, and passing completely through it, is the 
expression of an intensity of desire that is superior 
to all others of its powers of attraction. 26 Except 
in the case of specially hardened steel, this attrac- 
tion is so great that as soon as the electric current 
is no longer applied it again successfully asserts 
itself; and the molecular atoms rearrange them- 
selves in rings, and thus again satisfy their mutual 
desires. 

WHAT REPELS? 

What is it that is supposed to "repel?" It is 
not the iron, for we know that, until magnetized, 
the iron possesses no such power. And one portion 
of the same piece of iron is apparently attracted, 
while another portion is seemingly repelled. We 
know that we added nothing to the iron when we 
magnetized it, and we know that the iron of itself 
possesses only a power of attraction. We are, in- 
deed, left with no alternative but to conclude that 
the power of the magnet which seems to "repel," 
can be no other than a form of the power of at- 
traction. 

That the magnet exercises no inherent power 
of repulsion is strikingly demonstrated by the fact 
that if there be placed across its two ends a piece 
of iron — an "armature" or "keeper" — that in its 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 21 

attractions will fully satisfy the molecular attrac- 
tions of the atoms of the magnet, the latter will no 
longer repel anything. 27 Their desires being thus 
satisfied, the molecules have no further occasion to 
disturb the ether with demands for conjunction 
with their other affinities. And as they no longer 
send out any intense current of desire all other 
atoms are equally indifferent to them, and none of 
them may feel that they are slighted or "repelled." 

THE CHARACTERISTIC OF REPULSION. 

As each atom attracts every other atom, the 
mere attribute of attraction may not be regarded 
as a distinctive characteristic of a magnet; but the 
attribute of repulsion is. 28 Attraction is universal, 
and is generally unaccompanied by evident repul- 
sion ; while the latter may not exist by itself, but is 
exclusively correlated to the intense forms of at- 
traction. 

Repulsion to any great extent is, in fact, only 
attendant on an excessive degree of attraction, and 
the greater the attraction, the more repulsion is 
there capable of manifestation. When two bodies 
are obliged to come together by reason of their 
mutual attraction, all intervening bodies are neces- 
sarily pushed out of the way and this result is evi- 
denced in what is known as repulsion. 



22 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

The impossibility of a Principle of Repulsion, 
or the existence of inherent repulsion in any atom 
or body, may well be illustrated by an ordinary in- 
stance of pulling and pushing. Standing at one end 
of a rope at a distance from an object fastened to 
the other end of it, you may pull the object toward 
you, but you can not push it from you. You may 
only push after you have come in contact with it, 
and as a result of approaching it. And you ap- 
proach it only as a result of the operation of at- 
traction. And your pushing it then is the result of 
a transference of energy on your part that has no 
necessary relation to or suggestion of any Principle 
of Repulsion. 

APPEARANCE OF REPULSION. 

The operation of the Principle of Attraction 
must, it is true, evidence itself equally in the ap- 
pearance of both attraction and repulsion. There 
being no vacuum, and no possibility of any single 
atom perishing or being destroyed, it is evident 
that no two things can come together without, in- 
cidentally, pushing other things apart. In appear- 
ance, repulsion is, therefore, as inevitable as at- 
traction. The result of the activity of attraction 
must, in fact, always be dual and by way of con- 
trast. For no one atom may contract unless an- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 23 

other expand, none may expand unless another con- 
tract; there can be no centrifugal movement with- 
out a compensating centripetal one, no inside with- 
out an outside, and no one extreme without another. 
But the fundamental, primary, essential, and, in 
fact, the Only Principle involved is that of Attrac- 
tion. 

The Principle of Attraction serves to bring to- 
gether things that are distant from one another. 
There is no principle operating to increase the dis- 
tance between things already apart, and which are 
not at the same time being brought together. This 
is what would evidently happen were there a Prin- 
ciple of Eepulsion. The appearance of repulsion 
is manifested only after two things have approached 
or been attracted toward each other, and it is the 
direct result of this attraction. Eepulsion is, there- 
fore, seen to be merely an incident of and inevitably 
attendant upon any active operation of attraction. 

It is certain that each atom attracts every 
other atom, 29 and that the attraction of any ma- 
terial body is an expression of the combined attrac- 
tion of its atoms. And unless we are to disregard 
all fundamental principles of science, the repulsion 
of any material body must similarly be an expres- 
sion of the combined repulsion of its atoms. But, 
if every atom inherently and eternally attracts 
every other atom, it is beyond the range of possi- 



24 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



bility for even a single atom to inherently repel an- 
other. Nor is it within the power of science to 
convert the attribute of attraction into that of its 
supposed opposite, repulsion! Matter and energy 
may, indeed, be induced to change form; but prin- 
ciples are immutable! 

REPULSION OR ATTRACTION? 

When water is heated sufficiently, it assumes 
the form of steam. As water it clings to the earth, 
while as steam it moves away from it. Does the 
earth repel it? Neither the earth nor the water 
possesses any power of repulsion. The heat pos- 
sesses only a power of attraction. The steam moves 
away from the earth, not because either repels the 
other, but because there are substances away from 
the earth that attract the steam more than the 
earth does. As J. Clerk Maxwell says: "No man 
of science doubts that two portions of atmospheric 
air attract each other." 30 The steam merely seeks its 
affinities, and thus follows the line of least resist- 
ance; and it leaves the hard, dense earth for realms 
where its more ethereal qualities are better appre- 
ciated. 

Why do we avoid those who do not meet with 
our approval? Do they or their thoughts inherently 
repel us? No. We are more strongly attracted by 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 25 

those in greater harmony with our own; that is all. 
The lower forms continue to attract us, but we have 
become more friendly to higher expressions of truth. 
And this is clearly shown by the fact that the 
thought or person attracting us inevitably loses in- 
fluence, as soon as we establish greater harmony 
with a better or a different thought atmosphere. 81 

DOES A FIRE REPEL? 

Why does one draw away from a hot fire? Does 
the fire inherently repel him? No, indeed. At one 
time he will with the same degree of pleasure draw 
near that fire, as at another he will move away from 
it. Does the fire have a power of attraction at one 
moment, and a power of repulsion at another? Do 
the properties of fire change from time to time? 

One voluntarily moves from a fire, because at 
the time and under the circumstances, his desire to 
get away from it is greater than his desire to re- 
main by it. It is merely a question of desire, which 
is, indeed, a most potent form of attraction. It is 
true that the fire attracts him, but it is equally true 
that every other atom in the Universe attracts him. 
And the fire is too infinitesimal a portion of all that 
is, and has too little inherent attraction for him, to 
overrule the desires of all other portions of the Uni- 
verse, and particularly of his own desire. 



26 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



ACTION AND REACTION. 

The axiom that action and reaction are equal 
has its entire application to the transmutation of 
the power of attraction, which is always conserved 
and of which each form of energy is an exemplifica- 
tion. If a stone is lifted from the earth through an 
attraction stronger than that exerted by the earth, 
it does not leave the earth because it is repelled by 
the latter. And if the attraction that lifted the 
stone is withdrawn, so that the stone falls to the 
earth, it is not because of any repulsion by the 
power that is withdrawn. In each instance it is the 
power of attraction, and that alone, which is ex- 
erted. As Maxwell says: "Action and reaction are 
opposite aspects of one and the same stress. * * * 
In some popular treatises the centripetal and cen- 
trifugal forces are described as opposing and bal- 
ancing each other. But they are only the different 
aspects of the same stress." 32 

NEGATIONS AND NONENTITIES. 

That the Principle of Attraction has no oppo- 
site is basic and fundamental. If there is a Principle 
of Repulsion all conceptions of the Unity and Jus- 
tice of the Universe are untenable, and all accepted 
principles founded on these conceptions are abso- 
lutely impossible. If there is a Principle of Repul- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 27 

sion there is that which is not good at all, and may 
never become good. If there is a Principle of Re- 
pulsion there is Duality, and good and evil or God 
and the Devil, are Divine Partners. If there is a 
Principle of Repulsion there is entire absence of 
life, and there is entire absence of truth. 

But there is no absence of life; there is only life. 
What is it that dies? Is it the imperishable soul, or 
is it the equally imperishable matter? There is no 
absence of truth. There is only truth; and each 
form of life, and there is only life, is an individual 
expression of truth. 

There is a Principle of Health, but none of dis- 
ease; which latter condition merely denotes a fall- 
ing off in Health. Disease has no separate exist- 
ence, nor is there a zero point between the two 
where neither exists. There is no condition that is 
entirely lacking in health, and which expresses only 
disease. When the human system is in complete 
order and harmony, it expresses the greatest inten- 
sity of Health. As it is lacking in this degree of 
accord does it express less health; and when this 
harmony becomes so lessened that the condition 
is evidenced by pain and apparent discord, it rep- 
resents an undesirable or diseased condition of 
Health. 

Repulsion, evil, death and falsehood, as entities, 
have no existence. These terms merely serve to put 



28 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

in contrast various degrees of the one thing. That 
which possesses an inferior degree of attraction is 
obliged to defer to the superior. The latter exerts 
more influence than the former and draws towards 
it, and away from the inferior, the object of their 
mutual devotion. The latter does not push or repel 
anything from it, but is pulling or attracting at its 
best all the time. And this will at once be made 
manifest whenever the superior force is no longer 
exerted. 

That which does not attract sufficiently to over- 
come the active influence of other attractions, is 
ordinarily regarded as repelling. Of two expres- 
sions of good, that which is recognized as the lesser 
is termed evil as compared with the greater, and 
good as contrasted with a third and still lesser good. 
That which experiences an apparent loss of what we 
are accustomed to recognize as life, is called death, 
to distinguish it from other forms of life. What is 
less true than another truth is termed false. But 
repulsion, evil, death and falsehood are simply ex- 
pressive of comparatively undeveloped forms of at- 
traction, of good, of life, and of truth. 

LIFE AND DEATH. 

If there be any death, it is constant and as ever- 
existent as is life. Life expresses itself in continu- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 29 

ous and never ceasing transformation. Each day, 
each minute, each second — each instant — have we 
changed and become different from what we were 
the preceding one. It may, therefore, be said that 
we cannot live without at the same time dying; that 
we only live because, and as, we die. 

The transformations of life are usually so 
gradual as to lie beyond our conscious recognition. 
But when the soul, in its development, makes what 
seems to us to be a sudden change, we call the trans- 
formation death. But so softly and harmoniously is 
Nature attuned, that when we are more in conscious 
harmony with it, we shall doubtless come to under- 
stand that even death is as easy a transition as any 
that takes place during what we call life; that it 
constitutes a link in the chain of existence which 
may not be distinguished from any other. 

PARADOXES. 

That there are no opposites and no Law of Re- 
pulsion may also be gathered from the fact that the 
grandest of all truths are expressed in the form of 
paradoxes or seeming contradictions. 33 We are told 
that we must live by dying; that we may best oppose 
by non-resistance; that one should cultivate desire 



30 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

by killing it; that God is everywhere and nowhere. 
This form of expression indicates that the seeming 
opposites are merely two different views of exactly 
the same thing, which are in fact so intimately re- 
lated that their complete identity may be discerned 
by all whose horizon of thought is sufficiently un- 
obscured. 

OPPOSITES AND CONTRASTS. 

There are no two opposites in the entire Uni- 
verse. There are innumerable shades and contrasts, 
but there are no two things either exactly alike or 
diametrically opposed. There are no two things 
that are unrelated. All things are finally resolvable 
into the same elements, and as they are thus trans- 
latable one into the other, they must ever be in re- 
lation, and may never be in opposition to one an- 
other. 

No substance is either perfectly black or per- 
pectly white, and the difference between the high- 
est known transparency and the highest known 
opacity is one of degree only. Silence, darkness and 
cold are not the opposites of sound, light and heat; 
for we may produce silence by adding sound to 
sound, we may obtain cold by combining heat with 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 31 

heat, and we may cause darkness by mixing light 
with light. 34 

INNUMERABLE CONTRASTS! 

There are innumerable contrasts, and these 
may, for convenience sake, be designated by dis- 
tinctive names. There are sides, colors, shades or 
ends to all things. There is a North Pole and a 
South Pole, an inside and an outside, a seen and an 
unseen ; but these expressions merely serve to place 
extremes in contrast. They are the names given 
severally to two different qualities of but one quan- 
tity. The two extremes are relative. They are not 
separate entities, but are two parts or aspects of 
the One Whole. 

Good and evil, seen and unseen, mental and 
physical, heat and cold, light and darkness, knowl- 
edge and ignorance, are expressions of two relative 
degrees, respectively, of the same thing. When 
good is so developed as to possess high creative 
qualities, we call it "good;" and until it reaches this 
plane we call it "evil." The relation of good to evil, 
however, is that of one good to another good. Un- 
der varying conditions, the unseen becomes cogniz- 
able to the senses, the mental is manifested in the 
physical, heat becomes cold, light is termed dark- 
ness, and knowledge is seen to be ignorance. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



There is nothing in existence that has but one 
side or one end, for, of necessity, there must be an- 
other to complement it. A beginning assumes an 
ending, and only that which never began will never 
end. When we treat of any subject or thing, it is 
necessary, in order that we may readily contrast 
various portions of it, to give to each of such por- 
tions a distinct and separate designation. 

A traveler in London, going from the Bank of 
England to Oxford Circus by the most direct route, 
w r ould proceed along Poultry, Cheapside, Newgate, 
Holborn, High Holborn, New Oxford Street and Ox- 
ford Street; each and all parts of the very same thor- 
oughfare, but each bearing a different name, which 
serves to identify its situation in relation to the 
others. 

It is so with all things. It is essential that we 
should hold contrasts in view, for it is only in this 
way that we may differentiate between various de- 
grees of the same thing. And we may only con- 
veniently communicate our thoughts in reference to 
such differentiation by giving a distinctive name to 
each of such contrasts. Not only is it right, there- 
fore, but it is inevitable that we should use some 
such distinguishing words as inside and outside, up 
and down, good and evil, seen and unseen, attrac- 
tion and repulsion. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 33 



CONCEPTIONS OF OPPOSITES. 

It is not the mere use of such words, however, 
but the erroneous conceptions attached to and in- 
spired by them, that is sought to be done away with. 
The fact that such contrasting words only serve to 
express different degrees of the same thing has been 
lost sight of. Each portion has been invested with 
the properties of a distinct entity, and their inti- 
mate and necessary relation entirely hidden and ob- 
scured. Theology has carefully fostered these er- 
roneous conceptions with the view of enslaving the 
mind; and it has so effectually accomplished its pur- 
pose, that but few persons now have any desire to 
free themselves, or even willingness to permit 
others to help free them, from their servitude. 

Were we to do away with such words as dis- 
cord and evil, we should doubtless soon replace 
them with others; but these would be expressive of 
the meanings that the former were originally in- 
tended to convey. The change would not be a mere 
substitution of words, which of itself would be un- 
important. But such words as discord and evil now 
carry with them traditional, conventional and long- 
accepted meanings; and these foster and tend to 
perpetuate conceptions that retard our growth, dis- 
turb our harmony, and cloud our happiness. 



34 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



We can not escape from pictures that we inces- 
santly photograph on the mind, and this mental 
photography of erroneous conceptions is exactly 
what is ordinarily done when we use these words. 
Nor can we readily avoid this result unless we cease 
to use them. Instead of using the words evil and 
discord, we may identify what we mean by them 
with the words good and harmony. We may regard 
evil only as undeveloped good, and discord as har- 
mony not understood. We may come to know and 
feel that there are only good and harmony; that 
what we call repulsion is only one of the aspects of 
attraction. 

When these latter conceptions are so accepted 
and absorbed as to completely fill our being, we may 
without injury to ourselves attach these meanings 
to any form of words we may prefer. But as long 
as others attach erroneous conceptions to such 
words as repulsion, evil and discord, it is advisable 
for us either to cease using them, or only to do so 
in such connections as will make them clearly ex- 
pressive of the truth that All is One. 

UNITY AND DUALITY. 

When we consider the wondrous intricacies of 
every expression of life, we can not but regard the 
Universe as the most beautiful of all works of art, 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 35 

the most consummate of all expressions of harmony, 
the most elevated of all embodiments of love. And 
when we contemplate the inimitable works of the 
Infinite, we may not regard as the highest truth 
any conception of life that is not at least worthy of 
man himself. 

Which, then, is the higher expression of love 
and peace — the neutralizing of two discordant, con- 
flicting and opposing forces, or the co-operative ef- 
fect of infinitely numerous expressions of the One 
Force, each willing to efface itself in favor of that 
which carries with it the greater good? Which is 
the more beautiful — that of two contending forces, 
each struggling to subdue the other, or One Force 
expressing itself in many ways, and ever manifest- 
ing in the form most in accord with environment? 

Which is the loftier conception — that of the 
constant victory of the more violent of two battling 
forces, or the inevitable and perpetual reign of the 
most beneficial expression of the One Force? 
Which is the more artistic — the overthrowing of 
good by evil, or the loving competition between vari- 
ous expressions of good? Which better accords 
with a lofty wisdom — a Universe kept in order 
through the ugly repulsions of evil, or one that 
knows only good? Which conception most appeals 
to the sense of justice — that of Universal Love 



36 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

which ever prevails, or that of Universal Love ever 
imperiled by Universal Hate? Which conception 
carries with it the greater harmony, peace, order, 
beauty and wisdom; which conception savors of the 
Infinite rather than the human — a Universe or a 
Diverse? 

CONSEQUENCES OF MENTAL CONCEPTIONS. 

It is the conceptions attached to the words, and 
not the words of themselves, that carry great conse- 
quences. The conception of Unity brings with it 
peace, harmony, love, health and life; that of Dual- 
ity conduces to war, discord, hate, disease and 
death. 

The conception of Duality carries with it the 
sense of opposition and contest. It makes life a con- 
stant struggle. It finds enemies in all the forces of 
Nature. It looks upon unpleasant experiences as 
punishments and penalties. It makes a God of its 
Devil. 

The conception of Unity carries with it the 
sense of serenity and peace. It makes life a con- 
stant joy. It finds friends in all the forces of Na- 
ture. It looks upon unpleasant experiences as inci- 
dents of spiritual growth and guide-posts to greater 
happiness. Good is its God, and it knows no Devil. 

It is not a trifling matter to us, therefore, which 
conception we foster; it is of the utmost importance. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 37 

It is a choice between health and disease, between 
life and death. The conception of Unity is pro- 
ductive of intensities of health and happiness that 
are not attainable by those living the conception of 
Duality. The creative power of the mental phy- 
sician comes through his conception of Unity, while 
his patients are those who are still laboring under 
the conception of Duality. 

The fact that Duality carries with it disease and 
death, while Unity fosters health and life, uner- 
ringly indicates the respective degrees of truth that 
they embody. Life and health are ever proportioned 
and in correspondence with truth; and the higher 
the truths we express, the greater will be our 
health and happiness. If Duality expressed a 
greater degree of truth than Unity, it would carry 
with it more happiness; for it is the higher truths 
that correct, unite and heal ; and truth expresses its 
highest forms in Oneness, Completeness, Unity. 

We manifest more and more life as our thought 
becomes clarified and reaches higher planes. This 
is obtained with the greater facility as we use word 
pictures that are clearly defined, and relieved of the 
conceptions that became attached to them on lower 
planes of thought. It is with words that we must 
build our temple of thought, and if we are to make 
it expressive of the higher truths, we may use such 



38 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

material only as has been carefully and intelligently 
selected for the purpose in view. 

We reach the more elevated and intensified 
planes of harmony as we bring into conscious exist- 
ence the unconscious harmonies of our being; and 
we accomplish this as we live the conception of 
Unity, and become more and more in unison with 
the vibrations of universal attraction. As we be- 
come the living conception of harmony, we express 
only love, and find centred in ourselves an attrac 
tion that draws to us the highest harmonies of ex- 
istence. 



\ 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 39 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PURPOSE OF ATTRACTION. 

DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE. 

The Principle of Attraction serves to bring 
things together. It is this universal tendency that 
has resulted in the gradual development of all life, 
from the simplest form to the most complex now 
existing. This principle manifests in inorganic life 
through growth by accretion or from without, and 
in the organic by growth through assimilation or 
from within. 35 

ATTRACTION AND EVOLUTION. 

The phenomena of inorganic life have come to 
be regarded as evidences of Attraction, those of 
organic life as results of Evolution. Joseph Le 
Conte reminds us that the Law of Gravitation is 
universal in infinite space, and the Law of Evolu- 
tion universal in infinite time; the former imply- 
ing universal sustenation, and the latter universal 
creation, by law. 36 

While he regards these conceptions as "the two 
greatest ideas in the realm of thought/' it is evident 
that they are but different aspects of the One Prin- 



40 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



eiple as viewed respectively from the standpoints 
of space and of time. Haeckel recognizes this Unity 
when he states that growth rests upon attraction; 
while he regards growth as the fundamental func- 
tion of evolution, and the first condition of develop- 
ment. 37 

THE PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE. 

The purpose of existence, then, is growth; and 
this is evidenced by the attainment of conditions of 
existence more complex and differentiated than 
what were previously represented. It is an essen- 
tial of organic growth, or growth from within, that 
there be absorbed what is lacking and required for 
the expression of a higher development. 38 This end 
can only be subserved by attraction, for no two 
things may come together unless there is a mutual 
attraction; and only then can the one be appro- 
priated by the other. 

GROWTH. 

That growth is the purpose of existence is beau- 
tifully illustrated in the evolutionary history of life. 
It evidences itself in the increasing complexities of 
inorganic forms; and in the gradual development of 
the organic from the simplest to the most complex 
forms of the plant and animal kingdoms, and finally 
in the advance from the lowest type of savage to the 
highest of civilized man. We find it in the sue- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 41 

cessive appearance of more differentiated forms of 
life; not only generally in the plant and animal 
kingdoms, but throughout all of their various sub- 
kingdoms, classes, orders, families and species. 

EVOLUTION. 

There is no reason for the slightest hesitation 
in accepting Evolution as the explanation of all 
growth. It is merely the conception of a continuous 
progressive change according to certain laws and by 
means of resident forces. It is a Law of Continuity 
or causal relation throughout Nature, the general 
tendency of which is always onward and upward. 
We know of no other method of growth. 39 

Evolution is one thing and Materialism is quite 
another. The former is an established Law of Na- 
ture, and the latter an unwarranted and hasty in- 
ference from that law. As a Law of Continuity, 
Evolution is not only thoroughly established, but 
it is a necessary truth, like the axioms of geometry. 
And, as Le Conte assures us, it is far more certain 
than even the law of gravitation. In fact, it is only 
necessary to conceive it clearly, in order to accept 
it unhesitatingly. 40 

Creation by Evolution, says Le Conte, expresses 
divine agency by natural processes. In the imper- 
sonal authority of Law, says Drummond, we every- 
where recognize the Authority of God ; and Hudson 



42 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

regards Evolution as God's method of creation. If 
Nature is a revelation of God, says Drummond, it 
is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and, be- 
ing God's writing, it can only tell the truth. Says 
Henry Wood, Evolution has done more to build 
up an intelligent consciousness of the One Infinite 
Intelligence, Goodness and Will, than all the dog- 
matic formulas extant. 41 

Evolution is a doctrine of unimaginable grand- 
eur, says Drummond. It enters no region of the 
temple of knowledge without transforming it. It 
was reserved for Evolution to make the final reve- 
lation of the Unity of the world, to comprehend 
everything under one generalization, to explain 
everything by one great end. No imagination of 
man could have designed a spectacle so wonderful, 
or worked out a plot at once so intricate and so 
transcendently simple. 42 

HARMONY WITH ENVIRONMENT. 

Evolutionary growth from the simple to the 
complex, or from the homogeneous to the hetero- 
geneous, is evidenced by a progressive differentia- 
tion of form and function. This increasing com- 
plexity has enabled each succeeding organism ex- 
pressive of a higher growth to become more re- 
sponsive to its environment through the attain- 
ment of a greater accord with the harmonies of its 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 43 

surroundings. And, in the broadest sense, the en- 
vironment of any form of life means all else that 
is. 43 

A living organism must be in vital connection 
with its general surroundings. Life, as Herbert 
Spencer tells us, "is the continuous adjustment of 
internal relations to external relations"; and the 
ascending expressions of life are denoted by the 
higher degree and the greater number of these ad- 
justments. All organisms, indeed, may be said to 
be both living and dead; living in relation to all 
that is within the circumference of their corre- 
spondences, while dead to all else. 44 

To die to any environment is simply to with- 
draw correspondence with it. Without environ- 
ment there can be no life, and growth implies a con- 
stantly changing environment. In the organism 
lies the principle of life, and in the environment the 
conditions of life. And uninterrupted correspond- 
ence with a perfect environment, as Drummond 
says, is therefore Eternal Life, according to 
science. 45 

HAPPINESS. 

This greater intimacy in the relation of life to 
environment is always accompanied by a corre- 
sponding ability to sense greater harmonies; so 
that growth, as externalized through the senses, is 



44 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

translated into consciousness in the form of happi- 
ness. Life, says Huxley, can not exist without a 
certain conformity to the surrounding universe — 
that conformity involves a certain amount of happi- 
ness in excess of pain. 46 

THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 

In the first instance, says Drummond, the 
Struggle for Life is simply living itself; at the best, 
it is living under a healthy, normal maximum of 
pressure; at the worst, under an abnormal pressure. 
What it really brings about is the maximum of life 
and of the enjoyment of life, with the minimum of 
suffering and pain. It is a first necessity of prog-^ 
ress. 47 

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 

The purposes of the higher harmonies are ever 
furthered by the lower ones through the Survival of 
the Fittest. Those individual forms of life which 
are best capable of expressing the higher harmonies 
of their environment, will render all others subser- 
vient to them. And this results in the physical sur- 
vival of those best able to cultivate into expression 
still higher conditions of growth, harmony and hap- 
piness. By the law of the Survival of the Fittest, 
Altruism is forced upon the world, says Drummond, 
while there could be no more perfect law than that 
which at the same moment eliminates the unfit and 
establishes the fit. 48 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 45 

THE EVOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENT. 

The supreme factor of Evolution is environ- 
ment. In organic evolution, says Le Conte, species 
are transformed by environment. In human evolu- 
tion, character is transformed by its own ideals. 
Organic evolution is by necessary law, human evo- 
lution by free law. In human evolution man modi- 
fies the environment so as to make it conform to 
his wants, and bring it into harmony with himself. 49 

Complete harmony with any environment will 
induce improved conditions and attract new and 
more harmonious environments. Each breath 
drawn and utilized to make one upward step, says 
Drummond, brings man into relation with a frac- 
tionally higher air, a fractionally different world. 
The new energies he there receives are utilized, and 
in virtue of them he rises to a third, and from a 
third to a fourth. There is an ascending energy in 
the Universe, and the whole moves on with one 
mighty idea and anticipation. 50 

ATTRACTION AND GROWTH. 

The Principle of Attraction, as it operates 
through infinite time, evidences itself in the form of 
growth. The one fundamental and inevitable re- 
sult of attraction — and therefore its purpose, so far 
as we may predicate one — is the bringing together 



46 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



of things that have an affinity for each other, with 
a resultant, eternally advancing growth of life. 

Growth, as we have seen, is expressive of a 
capacity for greater adjustment with environment, 
and different planes of growth may be relatively 
determined from their contrasting inherent capaci- 
ties for higher conscious harmonies or happiness. 
We find, therefore, that the Principle of Attrac- 
tion, throughout its wondrous intricacies and infi- 
nite varieties of form, is the expression of Infinite 
Love and Wisdom. It affords every opportunity 
whereby life may be attuned to higher harmonies 
and the consciousness of greater intensities of hap- 
piness. 

THE LAW OF LOVE. 

In its highest form of expression the Principle 
of Attraction is manifested as Love. But it is the 
One Universal Principle that equally governs the 
seeming involuntary affinities of mineral and 
vegetable substances, the passions of animals, and 
the loves of men. The Evolution of Love, as Drum- 
mond assures us, is a piece of pure science; and the 
oldest and simplest form of love is the elective 
affinity of two differing cells. Above all others is 
the Law of Love, for Love is life, and all Love is 
good. Progress being the object of Nature, and 
Altruism the object of Progress, the Book of Evo- 
lution is seen to be a love-story. 51 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 47 

THE SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL. 

The Principle of Attraction is based on men- 
tal or spiritual, rather than on material or physical 
properties. Each material or physical atom or form 
is the manifestation and correspondence of an un- 
derlying mental or spiritual one. All growth is 
mental or spiritual, and evolution is primarily 
metaphysical. It is progression in life — in ascend- 
ing qualities of mind — and the visible form is 
merely its physical manifestation. Life is invisible; 
only its material expression may be seen by us. 32 

The spiritual and the material world are in- 
deed identical, and the conditions of life in the one 
are the conditions of life in the other. The spir- 
itual world is here and now. Spirit exists every- 
where in Nature, and we know of no spirit outside 
of Nature. The spirit of man is inseparably con- 
nected with the material substance of his body. 

Matter can never exist and act without spirit, 
nor spirit without matter; and neither may be 
separately conceived by the mind. And we know 
as much of one as of the other. They are, says 
Haeckel, the two fundamental and inseparable at- 
tributes of the all-embracing divine essence of the 
world, the Universal Substance. 53 

Law in the Visible is the Invisible in the Vis- 
ible, for all laws are primarily spiritual; while spir- 



48 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

itual and natural laws are the same laws. It is 
not a question of analogy, but of identity; not par- 
allel laws, but the same laws. 54 

SOUL DEVELOPMENT. 

We grow to consciously evidence more and 
more of the unconscious harmonies of our being; 
and evolutionary growth on the physical plane is 
the material expression of soul development, or 
character building. And character, says Tyndall, 
is better than science and higher than intellect. The 
spiritual and the physical are but different aspects 
of the One Life, and their various forms are expres- 
sive of contrasting phases of development. 55 

Evolution does not denote progress in matter, 
but in life, mind or soul. Matter is only an external, 
temporary banner or signboard. The human soul 
undergoes a continual development through the life 
of the individual. Each step is a successive state of 
internal character, and its visible form is only its 
sensuous translation. Evolution is metaphysical; 
and the life, mind or soul is alw T ays the cause and 
not the result of organization. 56 

Evolution, as Florence Huntley says, is progress 
by intelligent affinities and not by physical compul- 
sions. It moves according to certain immutable 
spiritual principles, by way of vibratory correspond- 
ences and ethical advantages. And the orderly and 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 49 

sequential development of love under the spiritual 
law of affinity constitutes the Harmonics of Evolu- 
tion. 57 

THE ONE PRINCIPLE. 

The One Universal Principle manifests itself in 
the attraction that each atom of the Universe has 
for every other atom, in infinite degrees of varying 
intensities. It is by virtue of combining and super- 
ior attractions that things are brought together, and 
of opposing and inferior attractions that they are 
kept apart. The Principle of Attraction being of 
universal application, and holding tributary to itself 
all the other principles of nature, is the sole means 
whereby the purpose of existence is subserved and 
carried into effect. 58 

THE ESSENTIALS OF GROWTH. 

The purpose of life is growth. In order to grow 
we must obtain that which is essential to the ex- 
pression of growth; we must be provided with what 
we lack and require. And as we may only grow 
through acquisition, it is necessary that we be re- 
ceptive. Each of us is at all times a complete 
thought entity, and this completeness makes it pos- 
sible for us to receive only as we give. Growth is 
attained through an exchange of the old for the new, 
of the good for the better; and, as growth is condi- 
tional on reciprocal action, we may not obtain what 
we lack if we tenaciously cling to what we have. 59 



50 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

EXPRESSION NOT SPONTANEOUS. 

In the physical world it is clearly evident that 
there is no spontaneous expression. However it 
may be in the moral world, says P. G. Tait, in the 
physical universe the giving and taking power of 
one and the same body are strictly correlative and 
equal. The emissive and absorptive power are equal 
to one another. A gas or vapor absorbs those pre- 
cise rays of light which it can itself emit, and all 
bodies which show selective emission also show 
selective absorption. 60 

Living force can generate the same amount of 
work as that expended in its production, and the 
animal body does not differ from the steam engine 
as regards the manner in which it obtains heat and 
force. A tree which weighs several thousand pounds 
has taken in every grain of its substance from its 
environment; and, as Drummond says, a child does 
not grow out of a child by spontaneous unfolding. 
The process is fed from without. And if the phy- 
sical is a counterpart of the spiritual it is evident 
that the same Principle of Exchange must equally 
prevail with both. 61 

If we regard the soul as individualized Spirit, 
possessing inherent potentiality for unlimited ex- 
pression of growth, it is still necessary that there 
be a stimulus to induce such expression, and that 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 51 

it come from without. Otherwise, all physical life 
might profitably be dispensed with, gradual un- 
foldment would lack all necessary purpose, and 
evolutionary growth would be a senseless waste of 
time and effort. On the contrary, it is clear that 
Nature is all imperatives, that it always takes the 
quickest path, and follows the line of least resist- 
ance. 62 

GIVING AND RECEIVING. 

As growth is attained through exchange, it is 
essential to that end that each individual form, as 
well as each atom, should possess the attributes or 
capacities both of receiving and of giving. In the 
thought forms ordinarily regarded as inanimate, the 
material locations of the greatest development or 
massing of the receiving and giving propensities, 
may readily be discerned. And as would naturally 
be expected, they evidence the greatest intensities of 
these correlated attributes at points the most dis- 
tant from one another. 

These contrasting parts have come to be desig- 
nated as their positive and negative poles. There 
are no unipolar magnets. The positive pole is sim- 
ply the point of departure or giving out; the nega- 
tive, that of arrival, or taking in. The former is 
a "source" and the latter a "sink." Without a nega- 
tive there can be no positive; for, in the nature of 
things, it is impossible to give mentally or spiritu- 



52 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

ally without at the same time receiving. Without 
a positive there can be no negative; for we may not 
be more than complete. Nothing, in fact, can either 
be received or given mentally except by way of 
substitution. And Involution is the counterpart of 
Evolution. 63 

POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES. 

Positives and negatives, as such, do not attract 
one another; but when atoms or thought forms are 
mutually attracted, it is the positive of the one that 
necessarily attracts the negative of the other. And 
the degree of their attraction will depend upon how 
much one may give or receive from the other. We 
find this exemplified in the slight attraction that 
widely different species of animals and races of 
mankind have for one another, and generally in the 
varying degrees of attraction that each individual- 
ized expression of life has for other contrasting 
forms. 

GROWTH IS INEVITABLE. 

As the One Purpose of Life is growth, this 
purpose must be subserved by whatever is; and all 
principles underlying existence must contribute to 
give it effect. As the sole purpose of life, growth 
is necessary and inevitable; and it is evidenced in 
the capacity for greater harmonies, or higher in- 
tensities of happiness. It is subserved equally by 
pain and pleasure, disease and health, poverty and 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 53 

affluence. Every experience must conduce to this 
One Purpose of life, either by way of guiding us 
along the paths of happiness or away from those 
of misery. 

We are compelled to ascend to higher planes 
of life and greater intensities of happiness, whether 
we would have it so or not. But it remains with us 
to determine the manner of our growth, the rate of 
our progress, and the degree of happiness that we 
shall from time to time express as we are making 
the journey of life. While we can not escape the 
operation of universal principles, it entirely re- 
mains with us to fashion our consciousness of the 
happiness or harmony that we shall at any time 
serve to manifest. All growth is the expression 
of immutable principles, and the necessity of 
growth is met in a most beautiful and effective 
manner through the instrumentality of a Universal 
Principle of Attraction. 

On the lower planes of existence, before indi- 
vidual characteristics have come to be developed, 
the degree of attraction existing between different 
forms may be accurately measured and expressed 
in terms that are equally applicable to every sepa- 
rate expression of any one form. But, as spiritual 
growth advances and becomes more specialized, we 
find it expressed in the forms of correspondences 
commonly designated as life. It is here that the 



54 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

element of individuality comes into play, and a new 
factor is introduced into the operation of attraction. 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ATTRACTION. 

On the mental plane, as contrasted with the 
physical, we find that like attracts like; that men- 
tal vibrations respond only to the extent of their 
harmony, that they attract each other only as they 
are in vibratory correspondence. On the physical 
plane, as contrasted with the mental, we find that 
unlike attracts unlike; that the positive is most 
attracted by the negative, the masculine by the 
feminine, the light by the dark, the short by the 
tall. 

While it is true that like attracts like, it is 
equally true that unlike attracts unlike. It is clear, 
therefore, that the basis of the Principle of Attrac- 
tion is not founded entirely either on the likeness 
or the unlikeness of appearance or attributes. 
These may severally be more than incidental; they 
may ever remain in constant relation to the basic 
truth, but there is evidently a deeper meaning and 
significance to the universal Principle of Attrac- 
tion. 

PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL CORRESPONDENCE. 

The physical being a correspondence of the 
mental or spiritual, all differences in the physical 
are necessarily representative of spiritual differ- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 55 

ences. It is not by accident or chance, therefore, 
nor can it be without spiritual significance, that 
persons are variously light and dark, tall and short, 
large and small. These physical contrasts are but 
tokens of spiritual conditions. A study of physi- 
ognomy, phrenology or palmistry soon demonstrates 
the truth of this conclusion. 

Each line and curve of the body, each gesture, 
each action, each shading of the voice, has a spir- 
itual significance, and is indicative of character. 
And, if physical contrasts have an attraction for 
one another, it must be by virtue of an attraction 
of contrasts in the spiritual. It can not be a phe- 
nomenon of mere physical attraction, but is of 
necessity the physical interpretation of some prin- 
ciple of mental or spiritual attraction. 

UNITY OF PRINCIPLE. 

The fundamental basis of all Truth is the con- 
ception of Unity. As All is One, and the Principle 
of Attraction the One Principle of the Universe; 
supposed opposites are seen to be but contrasts, 
Oneness is found to underlie all apparent Duality, 
and Completeness to be inherent in what outwardly 
seems to be but fragmentary. While there must 
always be at least two sides, this necessarily pre- 
supposes a Oneness of which the sides are but differ- 
ent portions and as the mental and physical are 



56 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



but different aspects of the One Substance we are 
obliged to conclude that the same One Principle 
that governs the physical, must likewise govern the 
mental. 

THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY. 

Underlying the wondrous harmonies of the Uni- 
verse, and the beautiful intricacies of creation, 
ther^is seen to be a grand principle that makes for 
equality. It is one of the attributes of the Princi- 
ple of Attraction. Nature ever seeks the normal 
and the line of least resistance, and there is a level- 
ing process in constant and ever-active operation. 
The attraction between persons of contrasting 
physical appearance is a striking evidence of this 
principle. 

If like had attraction only for like in the physi- 
cal, it would not be long before races only of giants 
and pigmies, of negroes and albinoes, would be de- 
veloped. 64 All peculiarities and eccentricities would 
be unduly accentuated were it not that there is an 
attraction between contrasts which serves to strike 
a balance and maintain an equilibrium. 

MENTAL EXCHANGE. 

Our mental absorption or spiritual appropria- 
tion from one another, is affected by way of vibra- 
tory exchange, 65 through giving and receiving men- 
tal vibrations. The degree of exchange that may 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 57 

be effected bears intimate relation to our vibratory 
correspondence, and the result is an actual absorp- 
tion or appropriation. Each must both gain and 
lose; and this result is expressed in an alteration 
of the vibratory condition of each. For it is ob- 
vious that no one can remain the same after he has 
exchanged a part of what he has for something 
different that he had not previously possessed. 

THE HUMAN MAGNET. 

Each person is a magnet, and necessarily has 
both positive and negative attributes, and as re- 
lated to one another, man represents the positive 
and woman the negative qualities. 66 Aside from the 
normal attraction between man and woman, the 
greater individual attraction of each is for the other 
who represents a similar condition of mental or 
spiritual development. 

As between those on the same spiritual plane, 
the greatest attraction is for the one who possesses 
in the highest degree what the other lacks and re- 
quires for further growth. And, however great the 
attraction, its intensity must lessen as each absorbs 
what the other possesses that may be of use in the 
attainment of a higher growth. 



58 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

THE BASIS OF HUMAN ATTRACTION. 

The basis of the attraction of one person for 
another lies in their unity in regard to Funda- 
mentals; these being the conceptions of life and be- 
ing that lie at the root of thought and action. What 
keeps one person bound to another after they have 
been brought together, is their diversity in respect 
to Incidentals; these being the various peculiarities 
of expression that result from individual and con- 
trasting experiences. 

As no two persons are identical, of any two 
coming together, each must have at least something 
that the other lacks and requires; and each must 
possess some degree of attraction for the other. But 
the highest degree of attraction exists between 
those who are in entire accord as to Fundamentals, 
and in complete contrast as to Incidentals. 

Under such conditions, as each will absorb the 
most readily from the other, the degree of attrac- 
tion will have a waning tendency, unless each con- 
tinually adds to the supply of what the other lacks 
and is desirous of appropriating. And, when per- 
sons gather from each other all that may be of 
benefit to them, they cease to possess a degree of 
attraction for each other sufficient to keep them 
together, and each of them will inevitably be dis- 
posed to turn to others who may better satisfy their 
individual requirements. 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 59 

The correspondence between the spiritual and 
the physical is thus seen to be strikingly complete. 
On both planes attraction serves to bring together 
those who are fundamentally alike. On both planes 
is there seen to be an attraction which gives oppor- 
tunity for mutual use between incidental and ap- 
parent contrasts. And these are kept together by 
their desires, through the necessity of a mutual ap- 
propriation of the qualities that are lacking in and 
required by the one, and possessed by the other. 

The growth of the individual atom or thought 
form is thus brought about by the Principle of At- 
traction, first, through the mutual attraction of like 
for like, and the bringing together of individuals 
each of which possesses what the other requires; 
and afterward, by keeping them together until, 
through the operation of their desires and by virtue 
of the use that unlike has for unlike, each may ab- 
sorb, by way of exchange, such of its requirements 
as the other may possess. 

THE BENEFICENCE OF ATTRACTION. 

The Principle of Attraction operates to bring 
to us only what may be to our advantage. We are 
able to consciously control our conditions as we 
come to sense the purpose of what we attract, and 
are able to extract from each experience only what 
we require for our further growth. Our ability to 



60 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 



do this determines the degree of harmony or happi- 
ness we will represent. 

AY hen we possess this faculty to a high degree, 
we may grow rapidly, and glide readily into planes 
of thought where opportunities for greater intensi- 
ties of happiness await us. It remains for us on 
each successive plane to learn how to express the 
greater harmonies that our higher growth has 
placed within our reach, for it is only through ex- 
pression that we may appropriate what is of use or 
benefit to us on any given plane. 

But no particular plane of spiritual growth is 
necessary to a conception or expression of harmony. 
Each plane has its own conception, and each indi- 
vidual will come to a sense of poise and peace as he 
more fully expresses all the harmonies of the plane 
he occupies. When he has exhausted all the bene- 
fits to be derived from that plane of spiritual 
growth, he will at once enter a higher plane of 
growth where greater intensities of happiness pre- 
vail, and where new powers and opportunities will 
respond to the new requirements. 

The ability to absorb and appropriate what we 
require for our growth, continually increases as we 
reach higher and higher planes of spiritual exist- 
ence. The higher the plane we occupy, the broader 
is our spiritual vision; and the greater our ability 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 61 

to know what we require, to attract it, to discern 
its presence, and to absorb it. 

We grow slowly, however, and may only ab- 
sorb what is demanded by our immediate require- 
ments. 67 That which is not approximately repre- 
sentative of the spiritual plane we occupy, is not 
available for our present use; and we are unable 
to appropriate it. There is, therefore, but little 
attraction between expressions of great spiritual 
contrasts, for the lower is unable to absorb much 
of what the higher has to offer, and the higher finds 
little in the lower that it desires to appropriate. 
The degree of benefit that one individual will re- 
ceive from another is proportioned to the similarity 
of their spiritual growth, while the absorption will 
necessarily be limited to that which one lacks and 
requires, of what the other possesses. 

EXPERIENCES AND DIFFICULTIES. 

Nothing may come to us except what we invite. 
No two things can come together except to the 
extent of their mutual attraction. We are mag- 
nets, and we attract only what we have an affinity 
for. Nothing may reach us except what is designed 
to bring about our capacity for greater intensities 
of happiness. We may consciously assist and fur- 
ther this design, or we may retard and delay it; 
but we can not prevent it. We may from any one 
experience learn the spiritual lesson it was intended 



62 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

to convey, or we may make necessary many simi- 
lar experiences. We may gather wisdom from ex- 
perience rapidly and with ease, or we may do so 
slowly and with difficulty. 

All conditions and experiences that come to us, 
do so for our benefit. They offer us opportunities 
for the attainment of a higher spiritual growth, 
through our extraction and appropriation of the wis- 
dom that is of their essence. Difficulties and ob- 
stacles come to us as we need them, that we may 
gather from them the essentials of our further 
growth ; and until we absorb their wisdom they will 
continue to return. 

We grow only as we conquer difficulties, and 
we gain permanent strength to the extent of the 
effort necessary to overcome them. That we reap 
what we sow, is true to mathematical exactness. 
And it is for our benefit and advantage that we are 
spurred on to the attainment of mastery, of freedom, 
and of greater happiness. 

FRIENDSHIPS. 

Our friendships are dependent upon and meas- 
ured by mental unity. Those whom we mentally 
attract to us are our friends, and they come in re- 
sponse to requirements of our growth. If we after- 
wards lose them it is because this mutuality has 
come to an end, and our thought forces no longer 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 63 

conform. They have lost the harmony that is neces- 
sary to effectively resist the greater attractions of 
other mentalities. 

As friendship is an expression of harmony, it 
must terminate when that condition ceases, and its 
growth will synchronize with it. There is, indeed, 
a natural and automatic process governing the lives 
of friendships — their birth, maturity, and death — 
and these are in constant correspondence with the 
mutuality of mental conditions. 

When friends draw apart, we may know that 
their usefulness to one another has come to an end. 
They have parted for their mutual benefit; for it is 
use — and use alone, as we have seen — that deter- 
mines the permanence of friendships. Not material 
use, but the requirements of our mental or spiritual 
progress. Friends draw apart in order that each 
may form other friendships of which they are in 
greater need. 

THE MUTUALITY OF HARMONY. 

No one may be in harmony with another beyond 
the extent that the other is in harmony with him. 
No one can give to another more than that other is 
able to receive. In order to assimilate each must 
equally harmonize with the other, so that the ex- 
tent to which others have lost accord with us, is 
measured by the diminished sympathy we have for 
them. 



64 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

Our higher growth demands more strengthen- 
ing nourishment than what was before required. 
Mental as well as physical maturity calls for a diet 
different from that of its infancy; and if we are to 
progressively develop, our environments must alter 
to correspond with our changing needs. Friendships 
form one of the most important elements of our sur- 
roundings, and unless there is a mutuality of de- 
velopment, our growth demands that we recognize 
the fact of separation. 

When friends have lost harmonious accord, it is 
the result of a natural tendency on the part of each 
to gravitate toward what has for him a greater at- 
traction; and this may be resisted only at the ex- 
pense of individual progress. Moreover, as friend- 
ships automatically terminate when we cease to be 
in agreement with our friends, it is unwise, as well 
as unsafe, to depend upon supports that may at any 
moment be withdrawn. 

ETERNAL FRIENDSHIPS. 

It is neither necessary nor desirable, however, 
that friendships should terminate. They may con- 
tinue ever to express more beautiful forms of har- 
money. And as our friendships are what make life 
beautiful, they should be most carefully cultivated. 
But, if they do cease, it were well to recognize the 
fact; recognition being an essential element of 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 65 

growth. When we refuse to acknowledge the truth 
we shall gradually become blinded to it. 

While we may have thoughts only of kindness 
for all, our accord with another is measured by the 
response. Our own beauty of expression may tend 
to promote similar manifestations in others, but it 
is actual mutality of vibration that constitutes 
friendship. It is impossible for us to be in harmony 
with what is not in harmony with us. 

TEMPORARY FRIENDSHIPS. 

When a friendship ceases, let us accept the situ- 
ation and understand its significance. It may fall 
away as the dead leaf drops from the tree. When 
the flower fades and droops it ceases to be cherished. 
When the flower of friendship becomes to us but as 
the leaf of acquaintance, it has lost its fragrance, 
which may henceforth be to us but as a beautiful 
memory. Should harmony be re-established, a 
friendship that has ceased may again take on all the 
beauty of life. But it will be a new friendship, just 
as the leaves and flowers of each successive season, 
though similar in form and from the same stock, 
are essentially original expressions of life. 

We may long cherish, and with great delight, 
the memory of friendships that have ceased to exist. 
It were well, indeed, that we should each retain the 
most pleasant recollections of those who have come 



66 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

into our life at different times, and afforded us the 
advantage of conscious harmonies that perhaps con- 
stituted the greater part of our happiness. But 
friendship, as we know it, consists in our conscious- 
ness of harmony with another; and as friendships 
are dependent in part upon vibrations of others that 
are not entirely within our command, we have only 
a partial control over them. 

We only constitute one of two necessary fac- 
tors, and existing friendships may come to an end 
quite regardless of our individual desires concern- 
ing them. We do not keep a friendship alive through 
mere belief in a mutuality of vibration that does not 
exist. It is of the utmost importance that we should 
be able to sense these vibratory correspondences, 
and we may do this to increasing advantage as we 
seek and associate only with what appeals to our 
highest conceptions of the truth. 

LOVE. 

In outward appearance there would seem to be 
exceptions to the mutuality of attraction, but in 
reality there are none. No person cvn love another 
without that love being reciprocated; for love is 
harmony, and is expressive of a relation and a cor- 
respondence. But persons differ greatly, and what 
fully satisfies one may have but a slight attraction 
for another. We are always satisfied by the highest 



Spiritual and Material Attraction, 67 

degree of love we are at the time capable of; but 
if the recipient of our love has developed a greater 
love capacity — or, in other words, has attained a 
higher plane of harmony, or loftier spiritual concep- 
tions — our love will only partly meet the latter's re- 
quirements, and cannot give complete satisfaction. 
We may fill a pint measure to overflowing from 
a quart vessel, but the latter has a capacity that 
the former may not possibly satisfy. The quart 
measure of love cannot satisfy its full nature with 
a harmony that appeals only to one-half of it — and 
the lower half at that! 

THE MUTUALITY OF ATTRACTION. 

We know that the action of two bodies upon 
each other is always equal; that the attraction of 
the iron for the magnet must be equal to that of the 
magnet for the iron; and that the stone and the 
earth attract each other equally. The attraction of 
the earth fully satisfies the stone, which clings 
closely to it. The earth willingly responds and rela- 
tively to the extent of its mass; but the poor stone 
would be sadly disappointed did it expect the earth 
to meet it half way. The moon revolves around the 
earth for the same reason that the latter encircles 
the sun; but if the moon had the greatest attraction 
it would reverse the position of affairs, and would 



68 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

take the sun and earth from their other admirers 
and compel them all to follow in its train. 68 

The inexorable requirements of growth demand 
that we exert the greatest degree of attraction for 
what is most completely in accord with us. It is 
true that attraction is always mutual, but any de- 
gree of love or harmony bears a different relation 
to its total development in each individual; and it 
is this relation that determines the proportionate re- 
sponses. It is only when our whole nature is ap- 
pealed to that we may fully respond. 

KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL LAWS. 

This conception of the Purpose of Attraction 
is expounded with a view of disclosing the under- 
lying motive governing human life, and from which 
it is impossible to escape. It is offered primarily 
as an explanation of life, as it is, rather than a 
suggestion of how it should be conducted. It is 
believed, however, that the higher degrees of hap- 
piness will be best attained through our understand- 
ing of, and conscious co-operation with natural laws. 
There are, in fact, no other laws. 

It is proposed to strengthen and prolong friend- 
ships. There is not the slightest thought of suggest- 
ing the advisability of curtailing them; but to guide 
our lives to advantage it is necessary to possess a 
knowledge of the principles that govern friendship 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 69 

and love, that we may best conserve the harmonies 
that constitute life's greatest pleasures and delights. 
It is our ignorance of the cause and purpose of these 
harmonies that at times makes it difficult, if not 
impossible, for us to insure their continuance. 

The social relations of husband and wife, and 
parent and child, are affected by considerations that 
do not enter into the ordinary friendships of life. 
These ties should be given every possible considera- 
tion, and their social necessity be fully recognized. 
These relations carry with them certain legal and 
conventional duties which should no more be lightly 
discarded than assumed. 

The mere lessening in the degree of sympathy 
or harmony in a family, does not warrant its dis- 
ruption, and the disregard of legal and moral obli- 
gations. In all such matters justice, and policy, and 
common sense, are important factors to be consid- 
ered. But even here a knowledge of natural laws 
is one of the necessary guides to what conduct on 
our part may be the most advisable and expedient 
for all concerned. 

A LAW OF MUTUAL BENEFIT. 

The One Principle of existence is that of At- 
traction, the basis of which is the use that each 
atom and form has for others in promoting its in- 
dividual growth; 69 and through the instrumentality 
of the Principle of Attraction only what we require 



70 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

is brought to us. Nothing may come to us but what 
we have a use or necessity for, so that what we re- 
ceive is exactly what we require and are entitled to. 
It is, therefore, the opportunity for growth, and the 
desire and necessity of appropriating what one 
lacks and needs for that purpose, that lies at the 
basis of attraction. The Principle of Attraction 
operates to bring together what may be of mutual 
benefit. 

MUTUAL USE AND MUTUAL NECESSITY. 

This conception of the Principle of Attraction 
as a Law of Use and Necessity is regarded as an 
exalted and beautiful one. It is a Law of Mutual 
Use and Mutual Necessity. We only receive as we 
give; we may only give to those who can receive; 
we only attract what we may be of use to, and what 
may be of use to us. We can not grow at another's 
expense, nor another at ours. Each must pay for 
what he receives, and we only receive as we pay. 
We must receive, and we must pay at some time 
and in some manner, for we can not avoid ultimate 
growth. P>ut it remains with us to determine our 
rate of growth, and the degree of harmony or hap- 
piness that we shall from time to time express. 

There is no individual selfishness or disregard 
for the rights or happiness of others involved in 
this conception of a Law of Mutual Use and Mutual 
Necessity. It permits us to grow only through oth- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 71 



ers, as they do through us. We live equally for the 
benefit of ourselves and others. A Law of Mutual 
Use is a conception of the highest Altruism. It is 
of its essence that the greatest regard for the Self 
is involved in the greatest regard for others. It 
means that as every atom is forever conserved, and 
in both its spiritual and material aspects, whatever 
is parted with must inevitably be received some- 
where. It can not perish, and it only exists for use. 
It can go only where it is attracted, and therefore 
required. It is only required where it may be of 
benefit. 

IMMUTABLE PRINCIPLES. 

We are, indeed, in the loving care of principles 
that are immutable, and that are designed solely 
for our benefit and advantage. Nor can we escape 
from their operation. It is in our power to place 
ourselves in conscious harmony with them, and 
thus express a life of comparative peace and happi- 
ness; or we may put ourselves in opposition to the 
inevitable, with necessarily unpleasant results. We 
each determine our conscious relation to all that is. 
We express the exact degree of happiness that we 
have earned. 

INHARMONIES. 

All of our inharmonies are the result of inter- 
ruptions in the rhythmic flow of the dual process 
of growth. The outgoing and incoming currents 



72 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

have gotten out of balance. We are either refusing 
to give out what we no longer need, or preventing 
the acceptance of what we require. 

Our disturbance usually arises from our refusal 
to give as freely as we are able to receive, or our 
unwillingness to pay for what we have already ob- 
tained. It is only when we give freely and wisely 
that we may, with the least friction or resistance, 
obtain what the requirements of our growth de- 
mand ; and in order to express health and happiness 
it is essential that we freely give. 

THE BENEFICENCE OF NATURE. 

Nature is entirely beneficent in its operation. 
It necessitates our growth and our attainment of 
higher conscious harmonies; 70 and we can not but 
attract what will subserve this purpose. Affinities 
are brought together that they may be of mutual 
benefit. They are compelled to come together be- 
cause they inevitably move along the line of least 
resistance, which is always that of the greatest at- 
traction. And as the advantages of an environment 
are exhausted, a new one is attracted, the benefits 
of which, in turn, may be absorbed. And this pro- 
cess is unceasing and eternal. 

We may freely choose what we shall think and 
act, but the result of our thought or action is gov- 
erned by immutable law. We progress as we ex- 



Spiritual and Material Attraction. 73 

tract from our environment the essentials of our 
growth, and we are able to do this as we come to 
better understand what we require and how to ap- 
propriate it. And this ability is attained as we 
more clearly comprehend the Principles of Nature 
and more faithfully live in accord with them. 

THE HIGHER HARMONIES. 

When we vitally understand the Unity and 
Beneficence of Nature — of God, of the Universe — 
we express an intensity of love that attracts the 
higher harmonies, and confers a happiness that 
may not otherwise be acquired. We gladly accept 
all experiences; for we know that they are exactly 
what we have attracted and require, and that they 
are designed solely for our advantage. 

We cheerfully meet all obstacles and difficul- 
ties; for we recognize their educational necessity, 
and know that we may extract from them the essen- 
tials of our spiritual development. We give as 
freely as we receive, knowing that the return will 
always be exactly what we are entitled to. 

As we live we are paid for living, says Huxley. 
The ledger of the Almighty is strictly kept, and 
every one of us has the balance of his operations 
paid over at the end of every minute of his exist- 
ence. And, as Drummond says, every day is a reck- 
oning day. All are judged by Nature now. 71 



74 Spiritual and Material Attraction. 

THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE. 

As we live in increasing conscious agreement 
with our environment, do we more readily express 
the higher harmonies of existence. Our inner life 
is deep and full in proportion to the extent of our 
conscious harmonies with other lives and things. 72 
And our continual ascent to the higher planes of 
spiritual growth meets with the minimum of oppo- 
sition, for we proceed along the path of love and 
peace — the Line of Least Resistance. 

In the words of Sir Edwin Arnold's "Light of 
Asia:" 

Such is the Law which moves to righteousness, 
Which none at last can turn aside or stay; 

The heart of it is Love, the end of it 

Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey! 



References and Authorities. 75 



REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES. 

^enry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual 
World, N. Y. 1883, p. 37. 

2 The best reasoning ever yet discovered by man is 
analogy. It stands at the very threshold of scientific in- 
quiry, and is indispensable. Leonide Keating, Man and the 
Mystic Universe, Phila. 1901, p. 164. 

s Ernst Haeckel, The Riddle of the Universe, N. Y. and 
London 1901, pp. 18, 19, 96. 

*id. p. 306; The Evolution of Man, N. Y. and London 
1896, 2 vols., i, 97. 

5 Haeckel, Riddle, p. 345; Thomas H. Huxley, Life and 
Letters, by Leonard Huxley, N. Y. 1900, 2 vols., ii, 14; Ca- 
mille Flammarion, The Unknown, N. Y. and London 1900, 
p. v; Keating, p. 184; Drummond, Natural Law, pp. xxiii, 4; 
Joseph LeConte, Evolution, N. Y. 1898, p. 347. 

6 Drummond, The Ascent of Man, N. Y. 1894, p. 199; 
Haeckel, Riddle, p. 306; Haeckel, Evolution, i, 97; LeConte, 
p. 318; Drummond, Natural Law, pp. 55, 57; H. W. Dresser, 
The Higher Law, Sept. 1900. 

7 Drummond, Natural Law, pp. ix, xviii, 30, 31, 237; 
Flammarion, p. xii. The various parts and processes of 
Nature are as definitely related to each other as are the 
organs and processes of the living body itself. John Tyn- 
dall, Heat, a Mode of Motion, N. Y. 1883, p. 2. 

8 Drummond, Natural Law, pp. 51, 52; Tyndall, Light 
and Electricity, N. Y. 1895, p. 123; Tyndall, The Forms of 
Water, N. Y. 1885, p. 12; Edward L. Nichols and William S. 
Franklin, Elements of Physics, N. Y. and London 1898, 3 
vols., i, 25; Sydney Lupton, Notes on Observations, London 
1898, p. 3; La Forest Potter, Psychology of Health and Hap- 
piness, Boston 1897, p. 132. 



76 References and Authorities. 

•Tyndall, Light, London 1885, pp. 42, 73, 91, 208; 
Sound, N. Y. 1895, p. 35; Heat, p. 110; Water, p. 34; Keating, 
p. 33; Flammarion, p. 12; LeConte, pp. 81, 333; Thomas J. 
Hudson, The Divine Pedigree of Man, Chicago 1899, p. 181; 
Huxley, Life, i, 521. 

10 Tyndall, Heat, p. 535; Huxley, Life, ii, 12. 

"See Huxley, Life, i, 313, ii, 13, 120, 172, 297, 298, 336, 
396. 

"Keating, p. 166. 

13 J. Clerk Maxwell, Matter and Motion, N. Y. 1892, pp. 
46, 47; Ganot, Elements of Physics, London 1893, p. 3. 

"Ganot, p. 55; Tyndall, Water, p. 30; Maxwell, p. 203; 
Haeckel, Riddle, p. 224. 

"Ganot, p. 55; Tyndall, Light and Electricity, p. 142; 
Silas W. Holman, Matter, Energy, Force and Motion, N. Y. 

1899, p. 28; John Johnston, Manual of Natural Philosophy, 
Phila. 1860, p. 27. 

"Tyndall, Light, p. 100; Heat, pp. 56, 118, 185, 192, 544; 
see H. Ebert, Magnetic Fields of Force, N. Y. 1897, p. 78. 

"Flammarion, p. 11. 

18 The magnetic field is the sphere of action of the mag- 
net. Ganot, pp. 665, 688. 

"Keating, p. 39; Nichols, ii, 188; Elisha Gray, Nature's 
Miracles, N. Y. 1900, 3 vols., iii, 25, 26; A. E. Dolbear, Matter, 
Ether and Motion, Boston 1892, p. 203; J. A. Ewing, Mag- 
netic Induction in Iron and Other Metals, N. Y. and London 

1900, pp. 294, 352; Maxwell, p. 155; Ganot, p. 688; Ebert, 
i, 117. 

"Gray, iii, 27; Ebert, i, 138. 

"Gray, iii, 27; Ebert, i, 20, 117; Dolbear, p. 203; Ganot, 
pp. 670, 672, 880; Tyndall, Light and Electricity, pp. 136, 
137; Ewing, p. 295. 

"Ebert, i, 47, 145, 188, 257; Ganot, p. 881; Nichols, ii, 
18, 32, 176. 

"Ebert, i, 46; Nichols, ii, 17. 

"Ebert, i, 41, 45, 47, 200; Gray, iii, 53. 



References and Authorities. 77 

"Ebert, i, 41, 45, 200; Nichols, ii, 20, 32, 177; Dolbear, 
pp. 196, 205. 

"Gray, iii, 41, 53; Ebert, i, 130, 134, 156; Ewing, p. 263. 

- 7 Gray, iii, 31. 

,8 Ganot, p. 670; Tyndall, Light and Electricity, p. 146; 
Ebert, i, 123. 

"Ganot, p. 55; Tyndall, Light and Electricity, p. 142. 

"Maxwell, p. 220; Tyndall, Heat, p. 211; Water, p. 19. 

"See Maxwell, p. 71; Ebert, i, 146; Tyndall, Light, p. 
60: 

"Matter and Motion, pp. 54, 77, 140, 172. 

"So called paradoxes are merely facts as yet unex- 
plained. P. G. Tait, Heat, London 1884, p. 6. 

"Nichols, ii, 140; Tyndall, Light, pp. 31, 35, 57, 154; 
Sound, pp. 369, 383; Heat, pp. 484, 485, 490, 491; Light and 
Electricity, p. 88. 

"LeConte, Evolution, N. Y. 1898, p. 53; Haeckel, Evolu- 
tion, i, 156. 

86 LeConte, pp. 48, 49. 

87 id. p. 282; Haeckel, Evolution, i, 155, 156, ii, 457. 

"Evolution is not to unfold from within; it is to infold 
from without. Drummond, Ascent of Man, p. 324. 

"Haeckel, Evolution, i, 167; LeConte, pp. 8, 15, 16, 53, 
348; Drummond, Ascent of Man, p. 334. 

"LeConte, pp. 66, 275, 286. 

"id. pp. 56, 292; Drummond, Natural Law, pp. xxiii; 
Ascent of Man, p. 333; Hudson, Divine Pedigree, p. 36; 
Henry Wood, Studies in the Thought World, p. 200. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 2, 3, 4, 37, 44, 154, 321, 
329. 

"id. p. 325, 327; Natural Law, p. 153. 

"id. p. 324; Natural Law, pp. 146, 147, 155. 

"Drummond, Natural Law, pp. 181, 215, 261, 264; Tyn- 
dall, Light and Electricity, p. 68; Haeckel, Evolution, ii, 7; 
Potter, p. 154. 

LofC. 



78 References and Authorities. 

"Huxley, Life, i, 236. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 201, 205, 208; Riddle, 
p. 271. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 209, 265. 

"id. pp. 198, 324; LeConte, pp. 89, 248, 363. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 326, 340, 341. 

"Florence Huntley, Harmonics of Evolution, p. 382; 
Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 216, 218, 231, 263; Natural 
Law, p. 5; Haeckel, Evolution, ii, 394; Riddle, p. 224. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, p. 328; Natural Law, pp. 
53, 92. 

63 Drummond, Natural Law, pp. 56 (quoting Descartes 
and Huxley), 157, 256; Haeckel, Evolution, ii, 455, 456 
(quoting Goethe), 457; Riddle, pp. 13, 21, 216, 223, 242, 254; 
LeConte, pp. 35, 312, 358. (All is mind or none. Everything 
is immortal or none); Flammarion, p. xi; Huxley, Life, i, 
262; Henry Wood, God's Image in Man, p. 72; Maxwell, pp. 
165, 168; Holman, p. 159; Potter, pp. 22, 146. 

"Drummond, Natural Law, pp. 11, 55; Haeckel, Riddle, 
p. 349. 

M LeConte, pp. 361, 372; Tyndall, Light, p. 210; Haeckel, 
Riddle, pp. 105, 108. 

C6 Drummond, Ascent of Man, p. 335; Haeckel, Riddle, 
p. 132; Henry Wood, God's Image in Man, p. 232; Studies in 
the Thought World, pp. 22, 129, 187. 

^Harmonics of Evolution, pp. 168, 178, 288. 

M See LeConte, pp. 49, 282. 

69 See Drummond, Ascent of Man, pp. 159, 190, 240, 325, 
326. 

C0 O. G. Tait, Heat, London 1884, pp. 4, 205, 250, 256; 
Tyndall, Light and Electricity, p. 78; Water, p. 8; Heat, pp. 
243, 283; Light, pp. 168, 174; Helmholtz, pp. 221, 228; 
Nichols, iii, 136, 138, 173. 

ei Helmholtz, Interaction of Natural Forces, N. Y. 1879, 
pp. 218, 238; Tyndall, Heat, pp. 83, 546; Drummond, Ascent 
of Man, p. 330. 



References and Authorities. 79 

^Hudson, Divine Pedigree, p. 262; Drummond, Ascent 
of Man, pp. 275, 277; Haeckel, Evolution, i, 17. 

^Ganot, p. 668; Johnston, p. 323; Ebert, i, 48 (quoting 
Maxwell), 127. 

"See LeConte, p. 243. 

"Flammarion, pp. 236, 237. 

W H. Durville, Theory and Practice of Human Magnet- 
ism, Chicago 1900, pp. 39 et seq; see LeConte, p. 248; Keat- 
ing, p. 40. 

67 See note 14; Keating, p. 67. 

^Ganot, pp. 23, 56; Lupton, p. 29; Nichols, i, 28; John- 
ston, pp. 28, 38, 39; Tait, p. 13; Maxwell, pp. 77, 81, 142. 

69 See Florence Huntley, pp. 226, 238, 243, 297, 436. 

70 LeConte, pp. 367, 368, 372, 373, 374; Drummond, As- 
cent of Man, pp. 190, 192, 193, 197, 200, 279. 

n Huxley, Life, i, 236; Drummond, Natural Law, p. 115. 

"Drummond, Ascent of Man, p. 42. 



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